Lysophospholipase

Abstract

The inventors have isolated lysophospholipases from Aspergillus (A. niger and A. oryzae) having molecular masses of about 68 kDa and amino acid sequences of 600-604 amino acid residues. The novel lysophospholipases have only a limited homology to known amino acid sequences. The inventors also isolated genes encoding the novel enzymes and cloned them into E. coli strains.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to lysophospholipases (LPL), methods of using and producing them, as well as nucleic acid sequences encoding them.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Lysophospholipases (EC 3.1.1.5) are enzymes that can hydrolyze 2-lysophospholids to release fatty acid. They are known to be useful, e.g., for improving the filterability of an aqueous solution containing a starch hydrolysate, particularly a wheat starch hydrolysate (EP 219,269).

[0004] N. Masuda et al., Eur. J. Biochem., 202, 783-787 (1991) describe an LPL from Penicillium notatum as a glycoprotein having a molecular mass of 95 kDa and a published amino acid sequence of 603 amino acid residues. WO 98/31790 and EP 808,903 describe LPL from Aspergillus foetidus and Aspergillus niger, each having a molecular mass of 36 kDa and an amino acid sequence of 270 amino acids.

[0005] JP-A 10-155493 describes a phospholipase A1 from Aspergillus oryzae. The mature protein has 269 amino acids.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The inventors have isolated lysophospholipases from Aspergillus (A. niger and A. oryzae) having molecular masses of about 68 kDa and amino acid sequences of 600-604 amino acid residues. The novel lysophospholipases have only a limited homology to known amino acid sequences. The inventors also isolated genes encoding the novel enzymes and cloned them into E. coli strains.

[0007] Accordingly, the invention provides a lysophospholipase which may be a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence as the mature peptide shown in one of the fol

[0008] Accordingly, the invention provides a lysophospholipase which may be a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence as the mature peptide shown in one of the following or which can be obtained therefrom by substitution, deletion, and/or insertion of one or more amino acids, particularly by deletion of 25-35 amino acids at the C-terminal:

[0009] SEQ ID NO: 2 (hereinafter denoted A. niger LLPL-1),

[0010] SEQ ID NO: 4 (hereinafter denoted A. niger LLPL-2),

[0011] SEQ ID NO: 6 (hereinafter denoted A. oryzae LLPL-1), or

[0012] SEQ ID NO: 8 (hereinafter denoted A. oryzae LLPL-2).

[0013] Further, the lysophospholipase of the invention may be a polypeptide encoded by the lysophospholipase encoding part of the DNA sequence cloned into a plasmid present in Escherichia coli deposit number DSM 13003, DSM 13004, DSM 13082 or DSM 13083.

[0014] The lysophospholipase may also be an analogue of the polypeptide defined above which:

[0015] i) has at least 70% homology with said polypeptide,

[0016] ii) is immunologically reactive with an antibody raised against said polypeptide in purified form,

[0017] iii) is an allelic variant of said polypeptide,

[0018] Finally, the phospholipase of the invention may be a polypeptide which is encoded by a nucleic acid sequence which hybridizes under high stringency conditions with one of the following sequences or its complementary strand or a subsequence thereof of at least 100 nucleotides:

[0019] nucleotides 109-1920 of SEQ ID NO: 1 (encoding A. niger LLPL-1),

[0020] nucleotides 115-1914 of SEQ ID NO: 3 (encoding A. niger LLPL-2),

[0021] nucleotides 70-1881 of SEQ ID NO: 5 (encoding A. oryzae LLPL-1), or

[0022] nucleotides 193-2001 of SEQ ID NO: 7 (encoding A. oryzae LLPL-2).

[0023] The nucleic acid sequence of the invention may comprise a nucleic acid sequence which encodes any of the lysophospholipases described above, or it may encode a lysophospholipase and comprise:

[0024] a) the lysophospholipase encoding part of the DNA sequence cloned into a plasmid present in Escherichia coli DSM 13003, DSM 13004, DSM 13082 or DSM 13083 (encoding A. niger LLPL-1, A. niger LLPL-2, A. oryzae LLPL-1 and A. oryzae LLPL-2, respectively),

[0025] b) the DNA sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1, 3, 5 or 7 (encoding A. niger LLPL-1, A. niger LLPL-2, A. oryzae LLPL-1 and A. oryzae LLPL-2, respectively), or

[0026] c) an analogue of the DNA sequence defined in a) or b) which

[0027] i) has at least 70% homology with said DNA sequence, or

[0028] ii) hybridizes at high stringency with said DNA sequence, its complementary strand or a subsequence thereof.

[0029] Other aspects of the invention provide a recombinant expression vector comprising the DNA sequence, and a cell transformed with the DNA sequence or the recombinant expression vector.

[0030] A comparison with full-length prior-art sequences shows that the mature amino acid sequences of the invention have 60-69% homology with LPL from Penicillium notatum (described above), and the corresponding DNA sequences of the invention show 63-68 % homology with that of P. notatum LPL.

[0031] A comparison with published partial sequences shows that an expressed sequence tag (EST) from Aspergillus nidulans (GenBank AA965865) of 155 amino acid residues can be aligned with the mature A. oryzae LLPL-2 of the invention (604 amino acids) with a homology of 79%.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0032] Genomic DNA Source

[0033] Lysophospholipases of the invention may be derived from strains of Aspergillus, particularly strains of A. niger and A. oryzae, using probes designed on the basis of the DNA sequences in this specification.

[0034] Strains of Escherichia coli containing genes encoding lysophospholipase were deposited by the inventors under the terms of the Budapest Treaty with the DSMZ—Deutsche Sammlung von Microorganismen und Zelikulturen GmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig DE as follows:

	Source	Designation of	Accession	Date
	organism	lysophospholipase	number	deposited
	A. niger	LLPL-1	DSM 13003	18 Aug. 1999
	A. niger	LLPL-2	DSM 13004	18 Aug. 1999
	A. oryzae	LLPL-1	DSM 13082	8 Oct. 1999
	A. oryzae	LLPL-2	DSM 13083	8 Oct. 1999

[0035] C-Terminal Deletion

[0036] The lysophospholipase may be derived from the mature peptide shown in SEQ ID NOS: 2, 4, 6 or 8 by deletion at the C-terminal to remove the ω site residue while preserving the lysophospholipase activity. The ω site residue is described in Yoda et al. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 64, 142-148, 2000, e.g. S577 of SEQ ID NO: 4. Thus, the C-terminal deletion may particularly consist of 25-35 amino acid residues.

[0037] A lysophospholipase with a C-terminal deletion may particularly be produced by expression in a strain of A. oryzae.

[0038] Properties of Lysophospholipase

[0039] The lysophospholipase of the invention is able to hydrolyze fatty acyl groups in lysophospholipid such as lyso-lecithin (Enzyme Nomenclature EC 3.1.1.5). It may also be able to release fatty acids from intact phospholipid (e.g. lecithin).

[0040] Recombinant Expression Vector

[0041] The expression vector of the invention typically includes control sequences encoding a promoter, operator, ribosome binding site, translation initiation signal, and, optionally, a selectable marker, a transcription terminator, a repressor gene or various activator genes. The vector may be an autonomously replicating vector, or it may be integrated into the host cell genome.

[0042] Production by Cultivation of Transformant

[0043] The lysophospholipase of the invention may be produced by transforming a suitable host cell with a DNA sequence encoding the phospholipase, cultivating the transformed organism under conditions permitting the production of the enzyme, and recovering the enzyme from the culture.

[0044] The host organism is preferably a eukaryotic cell, in particular a fungal cell, such as a yeast cell or a filamentous fungal cell, such as a strain of Aspergillus, Fusarium, Trichoderma or Saccharomyces, particularly A. niger, A. oryzae, F. graminearum, F. sambucinum, F. cerealis or S. cerevisiae, e.g. a glucoamylase-producing strain of A. niger such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,902 or a mutant thereof. The production of the lysophospholipase in such host organisms may be done by the general methods described in EP 238,023 (Novo Nordisk), WO 96/00787 (Novo Nordisk) or EP 244,234 (Alko).

[0045] Hybridization

[0046] The hybridization is used to indicate that a given DNA sequence is analogous to a nucleotide probe corresponding to a DNA sequence of the invention. The hybridization conditions are described in detail below.

[0047] Suitable conditions for determining hybridization between a nucleotide probe and a homologous DNA or RNA sequence involves presoaking of the filter containing the DNA fragments or RNA to hybridize in 5×SSC (standard saline citrate) for 10 min, and prehybridization of the filter in a solution of 5×SSC (Sambrook et al. 1989), 5× Denhardt's solution (Sambrook et al. 1989), 0.5% SDS and 100 μg/ml of denatured sonicated salmon sperm DNA (Sambrook et al. 1989), followed by hybridization in the same solution containing a random-primed (Feinberg, A. P. and Vogelstein, B. (1983) Anal. Biochem. 132:6-13), 32P-dCTP-labeled (specific activity>1×109 cpm/μg ) probe for 12 hours at approx. 45° C. The filter is then washed two times for 30 minutes in 2×SSC, 0.5% SDS at a temperature of at least 55° C., more preferably at least 60° C., more preferably at least 65° C., even more preferably at least 70° C., especially at least 75° C.

[0048] Molecules to which the oligonucleotide probe hybridizes under these conditions are detected using a x-ray film.

[0049] Alignment and Homology

[0050] The lysophospholipase and the nucleotide sequence of the invention preferably have homologies to the disclosed sequences of at least 80%, particularly at least 90% or at least 95%, e.g. at least 98%.

[0051] For purposes of the present invention, alignments of sequences and calculation of homology scores were done using a full Smith-Waterman alignment, useful for both protein and DNA alignments. The default scoring matrices BLOSUM50 and the identity matrix are used for protein and DNA alignments respectively. The penalty for the first residue in a gap is −12 for proteins and −16 for DNA, while the penalty for additional residues in a gap is −2 for proteins and −4 for DNA. Alignment is from the FASTA package version v20u6 (W. R. Pearson and D. J. Lipman (1988), “Improved Tools for Biological Sequence Analysis”, PNAS 85:2444-2448, and W. R. Pearson (1990) “Rapid and Sensitive Sequence Comparison with FASTP and FASTA”, Methods in Enzymology, 183:63-98). Multiple alignments of protein sequences were done using “ClustalW” (Thompson, J. D., Higgins, D. G. and Gibson, T. J. (1994) CLUSTAL W: improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting, positions-specific gap penalties and weight matrix choice. Nucleic Acids Research, 22:4673-4680). Multiple alignment of DNA sequences are done using the protein alignment as a template, replacing the amino acids with the corresponding codon from the DNA sequence.

[0052] Lysophospholipase Activity (LLU)

[0053] Lysophospholipase activity is measured using egg yolk L-α-lysolecithin as the substrate with a NEFA C assay kit.

[0054] 20 μl of sample is mixed with 100 μl of 20 mM sodium acetate buffer (pH 4.5) and 100 μl of 1% L-α-lysolecithin solution, and incubated at 55° C. for 20 min. After 20 min, the reaction mixture is transferred to the tube containing 30 μl of Solution A in NEFA kit preheated at 37° C. After 10 min incubation at 37° C., 600 μl of Solution B in NEFA kit is added to the reaction mixture and incubated at 37° C. for 10 min. Activity is measured at 555 nm on a spectrophotometer. One unit of lysophospholipase activity (1 LLU) is defined as the amount of enzyme that can increase the A550 of 0.01 per minute at 55° C.

[0055] Use of Lysophospholipase

[0056] The lysophospholipase of the invention can be used in any application where it is desired to hydrolyze the fatty acyl group(s) of a phospholipid or lyso-phospholipid, such as lecithin or lyso-lecithin.

[0057] As an example, the lysophospholipase of the invention can be used in the preparation of dough, bread and cakes, e.g. to improve the elasticity of the bread or cake. Thus, the lysophospholipase can be used in a process for making bread, comprising adding the lysophospholipase to the ingredients of a dough, kneading the dough and baking the dough to make the bread. This can be done in analogy with U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,046 (Kyowa Hakko), JP-A 60-78529 (QP Corp.), JP-A 62-111629 (QP Corp.), JP-A 63-258528 (QP Corp.) or EP 426211 (Unilever).

[0058] The lysophospholipase of the invention can also be used to improve the filter-ability of an aqueous solution or slurry of carbohydrate origin by treating it with the lysophospholipase. This is particularly applicable to a solution or slurry containing a starch hydrolysate, especially a wheat starch hydrolysate since this tends to be difficult to filter and to give cloudy filtrates. The lysophospholipase may advantageously be used together with a beta-glucanase and/or a xylanase, e.g. as described in EP 219,269 (CPC International).

[0059] The lysophospholipase of the invention can be used in a process for reducing the content of phospholipid in an edible oil, comprising treating the oil with the lysophospholipase so as to hydrolyze a major part of the phospholipid, and separating an aqueous phase containing the hydrolyzed phospholipid from the oil. This process is applicable to the purification of any edible oil which contains phospholipid, e.g. vegetable oil such as soy bean oil, rape seed oil and sunflower oil. The process can be conducted according to principles known in the art, e.g. in analogy with U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,367 (Metallgesellschaft, Röhm); K. Dahike & H. Buchold, INFORM, 6 (12), 1284-91 (1995); H. Buchold, Fat Sci. Technol., 95 (8), 300-304 (1993); JP-A 2-153997 (Showa Sangyo); or EP 654,527 (Metaligesellschaft, Röhm).

EXAMPLES

[0060] Materials and Methods

[0061] Methods

[0062] Unless otherwise stated, DNA manipulations and transformations were performed using standard methods of molecular biology as described in Sambrook et al. (1989) Molecular cloning: A laboratory manual, Cold Spring Harbor lab., Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.; Ausubel, F. M. et al. (eds.) “Current protocols in Molecular Biology”, John Wiley and Sons, 1995; Harwood, C. R., and Cutting, S. M. (eds.) “Molecular Biological Methods for Bacillus”. John Wiley and Sons, 1990.

[0063] Enzymes

[0064] Enzymes for DNA manipulations (e.g. restriction endonucleases, ligases etc.) are obtainable from New England Biolabs, Inc. and were used according to the manufacturer's instructions.

[0065] Plasmids/Vectors

[0066] pT7Blue (Invitrogen, Netherlands)

[0067] pUC19 (Genbank Accession #: X02514)

[0068] pYES 2.0 (Invitrogen, USA).

[0069] Microbial Strains

[0070] E. coli JM109 (TOYOBO, Japan)

[0071] E. coli DH12α (GIBCO BRL, Life Technologies, USA)

[0072] Aspergillus oryzae strain IFO 4177 is available from Institute for Fermentation, Osaka (IFO) Culture Collection of Microorganisms, 17-85, Juso-honmachi, 2-chome, Yodogawa-ku, Osaka 532-8686, Japan.

[0073] A. oryzae BECh-2 is described in Danish patent application PA 1999 01726. It is a mutant of JaL 228 (described in WO 98/12300) which is a mutant of IFO 4177.

[0074] Reagents

[0075] NEFA test kit (Wako, Japan)

[0076] L-α-lysolecithin (Sigma, USA).

[0077] Media and Reagents

[0078] Cove: 342.3 g/L Sucrose, 20 ml/L COVE salt solution, 10 mM Acetamide, 30 g/L noble agar.

[0079] Cove-2: 30 g/L Sucrose, 20 ml/L COVE salt solution, 10 mM, Acetamide, 30 g/L noble agar.

[0080] Cove salt solution: per liter 26 g KCl, 26 g MgSO4-7 aq, 76 g KH2PO4, 50 ml Cove trace metals.

[0081] Cove trace metals: per liter 0.04 g NaB4O7-10 aq, 0.4 g CuSO4-5 aq, 1.2 g FeSO4-7 aq, 0.7 g MnSO4-aq, 0.7 g Na2MoO2-2 aq, 0.7 g ZnSO4-7 aq.

[0082] AMG trace metals: per liter 14.3 g ZnSO4-7 aq, 2.5 g CuSO4-5 aq, 0.5 g NiCl2, 13.8 g FeSO4, 8.5 g MnSO4, 3.0 g citric acid.

[0083] YPG: 4 g/L Yeast extract, 1 g/L KH2PO4, 0.5 g/L MgSO4-7 aq, 5 g/L Glucose, pH 6.0.

[0084] STC: 0.8 M Sorbitol, 25 mM Tris pH 8, 25 mM CaCl2.

[0085] STPC: 40% PEG4000 in STC buffer.

[0086] Cove top agarose: 342.3 g/L Sucrose, 20 ml/L COVE salt solution, lOmM Acetamide, 10 g/L low melt agarose.

[0087] MS-9: per liter 30 g soybean powder, 20 g glycerol, pH 6.0.

[0088] MDU-pH5: per liter 45 g maltose-1 aq, 7 g yeast extract, 12 g KH2PO4, 1 g MgSO4-7 aq, 2 g K2SO4, 0.5 ml AMG trace metal solution and 25 g 2-morpholinoethanesulfonic acid, pH 5.0.

[0089] MLC: 40 g/L Glucose, 50 g/L Soybean powder, 4 g/L Citric acid, pH 5.0.

[0090] MU-1: 260 g/L Maltdextrin, 3 g/L MgSO4-7 aq, 6 g/L K2SO4, 5 g/L KH2PO4, 0.5 ml/L AMG trace metal solution, 2 g/L Urea, pH 4.5.

Example 1

[0091] Cloning and Expression of LLPL-1 Gene from A. niger

[0092] Transformation in Aspergillus Strain

[0093] Aspergillus oryzae strain BECh-2 was inoculated to 100 ml of YPG medium and incubated for 16 hrs at 32° C. at 120 rpm. Pellets were collected and washed with 0.6 M KCl, and resuspended 20 ml 0.6 M KCl containing a commercial β-glucanase product (Glucanex, product of Novo Nordisk A/S) at the concentration of 30 μ/ml. Cultures were incubated at 32° C. at 60 rpm until protoplasts formed, then washed with STC buffer twice. The protoplasts were counted with a hematometer and resuspended in an 8:2:0.1 solution of STC:STPC:DMSO to a final concentration of 2.5×10e7 proto-plasts/ml. About 3 μg of DNA was added to 100 μl of protoplasts solution, mixed gently and incubated on ice for 30 min. One ml of SPTC. was added and incubated 30 min at 37° C. After the addition of 10 ml of 50° C. Cove top agarose, the reaction was poured onto Cove agar plate. Transformation plates were incubated at 32° C. for 5 days.

[0094] Preparation of a llp1 Probe

[0095] A strain of Aspergillus niger was used as a genomic DNA supplier.

[0096] PCR reactions on Aspergillus niger genome DNA was done with the primers HU175 (SEQ ID NO: 9) and HU176 (SEQ ID NO: 10) designed based upon the alignment several lysophospholipases from Penicillium and Neurospora sp.

[0097] Reaction components (1 ng/μl of genomic DNA, 250 mM dNTP each, primer 250 nM each, 0.1 U/μl in Taq polymerase in 1× buffer (Roche Diagnostics, Japan)) were mixed and submitted for PCR under the following conditions.

Step	Temperature	Time
1	94° C.	2 min
2	92° C.	1 min
3	55° C.	1 min
4	72° C.	1 min
5	72° C.	10 min
6	4° C.	forever
Steps 2 to 4 were repeated 30 times.

[0098] The expected size, 1.0 kb fragment was gel-purified with QIA gel extraction kit (Qiagen, Germany) and ligated into a pT7Blue vector with ligation high (TOYOBO, Japan). The ligation mixture was transformed into E. coli JM109. The resultant plasmid (pHUda94) was sequenced and compared to the Penicillium lysophospholipase, showing that a clone encodes the internal part of the lysophospholipase.

[0099] Cloning of llpl-1 Gene

[0100] In order to clone the missing part of the lysophospholipase gene, a genomic restriction map was constructed by using the PCR fragment as probes to a Southern blot of Aspergillus niger DNA digested with seven restriction enzymes, separately and probed with 1.0 kb fragment encoding partial lysophospholipase from pHUda94.

[0101] A hybridized 4-6 kb Sphl fragment was selected for a llpl-1 gene subclone.

[0102] For construction of a partial genomic library of Aspergillus niger, the genomic DNA was digested with Sphl and run on a 0.7% agarose gel. DNA with a size between 4 to 6 kb was purified and cloned into pUC19 pretreated Sphl and BAP (Bacterial alkaline phosphatase). The sphl sub-library was made by transforming the ligated clones into E. coli DH12α cells. Colonies were grown on Hybond-N+ membranes (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Japan) and hybridized to DIG-labelled (Non-radio isotope) 1.0 kb fragment from pHUda94.

[0103] Positive colonies were picked up and their inserts were checked by PCR. Plasmids from selected colonies were prepared and sequenced revealing 5 kb Sphl fragment were containing whole llpl-1 gene.

[0104] Expression of llpl-1 Gene in Aspergillus oryzae.

[0105] The coding region of the LLPL-1 gene was amplified from genomic DNA of an Aspergillus niger strain by PCR with the primers HU188 (SEQ ID NO: 11) and HU189 (SEQ ID NO: 12) which included a EcoRV and a Xhol restriction enzyme site, respectively.

[0106] Reaction components (1 ng/μl of genomic DNA, 250 mM dNTP each, primer 250 nM each, 0.1 U/μl in Taq polymerase in 1× buffer (Roche Diagnostics, Japan)) mixed and submitted for PCR under the following conditions.

Step	Temperature	time
1	94° C.	2 min
2	92° C.	1 min
3	55° C.	1 min
4	72° C.	2 min
5	72° C.	10 min
6	4° C.	forever
Steps 2 to 4 were repeated 30 times.

[0107] The 2 kb fragment was gel-purified with QIA gel extraction kit and ligated into a pT7Blue vector with Ligation high. The ligation mixture was transformed into E. coli JM109. The resultant plasmid (pLLPL1) was sequenced. The pLLPL1 was confirmed that no changes had happen in the LLPL-1 sequences.

[0108] The pLLPL1 was digested with EcoRV and Xhol and ligated into the Nrul and Xhol sites in an Aspergillus expression cassette (pCaHj483) which has Aspergillus niger neutral amylase promoter, Aspergillus nidulans TPI leader sequences, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase terminator and Aspergillus nidulans amdS gene as a marker. The resultant plasmid was named pHUda103.

[0109] The LLPL-1 expression plasmid, pHUda103, was digested with Notl and about 6.1 kb DNA fragment containing Aspergillus niger neutral amylase promoter, LLPL-1 coding region, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase terminator and Aspergillus nidulans amdS gene was gel-purified with QIA gel extraction kit.

[0110] The 6.1 kb DNA fragment was transformed into Aspergillus oryzae BECh-2. The selected transformants were inoculated in 100 ml of MS-9 media and cultivated at 30° C. for 1 day. 3 ml of grown cell in MS-9 medium was inoculated to 100 ml of MDU-pH5 medium and cultivated at 30° C. for 3 days. The supernatant was obtained by centrifugation. The cell was opened by mixed with the equal volume of reaction buffer (50 mM KPB-pH 6.0) and glass-beads for 5 min on ice and debris was removed by centrifugation.

[0111] The lysophospholipase productivity of selected transformants was determined as the rate of hydrolysis of L-α-lysolecithin at pH 4.5 and 55° C. measured in units per ml relative to the activity of the host strain, BECh-2 which is normalized to 1.0. The results shown in the table below clearly demonstrate the absence of increased lysophospholipase activity in supernatants and the presence of increased lysophospholipase activity in cell free extracts.

		Yield (supernatant)	Yield (Cell fraction)
	Strain	Relative activity	Relative activity
	BECh-2	1.0	1.0
	LP3	1.0	4.5
		1.0	4.0
	LP8	1.0	6.5
		1.0	5.5

Example 2

[0112] Cloning and Expression of LLPL-2 Gene from A. niger

[0113] Preparation of a llp2 Probe

[0114] The same strain of Aspergillus niger as in Example 1 was used as a genomic DNA supplier.

[0115] PCR reactions on Aspergillus niger genomic DNA was done with the primers HU212 (SEQ ID NO: 13) and HU213 (SEQ ID NO: 14) designed based upon amino acid sequences from purified lysophospholipase from AMG 400L (described in Example 4).

[0116] Reaction components (1 ng/μl of genomic DNA, 250 mM dNTP each, primer 250 nM each, 0.1 U/μl in Taq polymerase in 1× buffer (Roche Diagnostics, Japan)) were mixed and submitted for PCR under the following conditions.

Step	Temperature	Time
1	94° C.	2 min
2	92° C.	1 min
3	50° C.	1 min
4	72° C.	1 min
5	72° C.	10 min
6	4° C.	forever
Steps 2 to 4 were repeated 30 times.

[0117] The expected size, 0.6 kb fragment was gel-purified with QIA gel extraction kit (Qiagen, Germany) and ligated into a pT7Blue vector with ligation high (TOYOBO, Japan). The ligation mixture was transformed into E. coli JM109. The resultant plasmid (pHUda114) was sequenced and compared to the Penicillium lysophospholipase, showing that a clone encodes the internal part of the lysophospholipase.

[0118] Cloning of llpl-2 Gene

[0119] In order to clone the missing part of the lysophospholipase gene, a genomic restriction map was constructed by using the PCR fragment as probes to a Southern blot of Aspergillus niger DNA digested with seven restriction enzymes, separately and probed with 1.0 kb fragment encoding partial lysophospholipase from pHUda 114.

[0120] A hybridized 4-6 kb Xbal fragment was selected for a llpl-2 gene subclone.

[0121] For construction of a partial genomic library of Aspergillus niger, the genomic DNA was digested with Xbal and run on a 0.7% agarose gel. DNA with a size between 4 to 6 kb was purified and cloned into pUC19 pretreated Xbal and BAP (Bacterial alkaline phosphatase). The Xbal sub-library was made by transforming the ligated clones into E. coli DH12α cells. Colonies were grown on Hybond-N+ membranes (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Japan) and hybridized to DIG-labelled (Non-radio isotope) 1.0 kb fragment from pHUda114.

[0122] Positive colonies were picked up and their inserts were checked by PCR. Plasmids from selected colonies were prepared and sequenced revealing 5 kb Xbal fragment were containing whole llpl-2 gene.

[0123] Expression of llpl-2 Gene in Aspergillus oryzae.

[0124] The coding region of the LLPL-2 gene was amplified from genomic DNA of an Aspergillus niger strain by PCR with the primers HU225 (SEQ ID NO: 15) and HU226 (SEQ ID NO: 16) which included a BgIII and a Pmel restriction enzyme site, respectively.

[0125] Reaction components (1 ng/μl of genomic DNA, 250 mM dNTP each, primer 250 nM each, 0.1 U/μl in Taq polymerase in 1× buffer (Roche Diagnostics, Japan)) were mixed and submitted for PCR under the following conditions.

Step	Temperature	time
1	94° C.	2 min
2	92° C.	1 min
3	55° C.	1 min
4	72° C.	2 min
5	72° C.	10 min
6	4° C.	forever
Step 2 to 4 were repeated 30 times.

[0126] The 2 kb fragment was gel-purified with QIA gel extraction kit and ligated into a pT7Blue vector with Ligation high. The ligation mixture was transformed into E. coli JM109. The resultant plasmid (pLLPL2) was sequenced. The pLLPL2 was confirmed that no changes had happen in the LLPL-2 sequences.

[0127] The pLLPL2 was digested with BgIII and Pmel and ligated into the BamHI and Nrul sites in the Aspergillus expression cassette pCaHj483 which has Aspergillus niger neutral amylase promoter, Aspergillus nidulans TPI leader sequences, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase terminator and Aspergillus nidulans amdS gene as a marker. The resultant plasmid was pHUda123.

[0128] The LLPL-2 expression plasmid, pHUda123, was digested with Notl and about 6.0 kb DNA fragment containing Aspergillus niger neutral amylase promoter, LLPL-2 coding region, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase terminator and Aspergillus nidulans amdS gene was gel-purified with QIA gel extraction kit.

[0129] The 6.0 kb DNA fragment was transformed into Aspergillus oryzae BECh-2. The selected transformants were inoculated in 100 ml of MS-9 media and cultivated at 30° C. for 1 day. 3 ml of grown cell in MS-9 medium was inoculated to 100 ml of MDU-pH5 medium and cultivated cultivated at 30° C. for 4 days.

[0130] The supernatant was obtained by centrifugation. The cell was opened by mixed with the equal volume of reaction buffer (50 mM KPB-pH 6.0) and glass-beads for 5 min on ice and debris was removed by centrifugation.

[0131] The lysophospholipase productivity of selected transformants was determined as in Example 1. The results shown in the table below clearly demonstrate the absence of increased lysophospholipase activity in supernatants and the presence of increased lysophospholipase activity in cell free extracts.

		Yield (supernatant)	Yield (Cell fraction)
	Strain	Relative activity	Relative activity
	BECh-2	1.0	1.0
	Fg-9	1.0	22.5
	Fg-15	1.0	18.0
	Fg-27	1.0	17.0
	Fg-33	1.0	14.5

Example 3

[0132] Cloning and Expression of LLPL Genes from E. coli Clones

[0133] Each of the following large molecular weight lysophospholipase (LLPL) genes is cloned from the indicated E. coli clone as genomic DNA supplier, and the gene is expressed in A. oryzae as described in Examples 1 and 2.

E. coli clone LLPL
DSM 13003     A. niger LLPL-1
DSM 13004     A. niger LLPL-2
DSM 13082     A. oryzae LLPL-1
DSM 13083     A. oryzae LLPL-2

Example 4

[0134] Isolation of A. niger LLPL-2 from AMG 300L

[0135] Purification of LLPL-2 from AMG 300L

[0136] A commercially available glucoamylase preparation from A. niger (AMG 300L, product of Novo Nordisk A/S) was diluted 10-fold with Milli-Q water and subsequently added ammonium sulfate to 80% saturation. The solution was stirred 1 hour at 4 ° C. followed by centrifugation on an Sorvall RC-3B centrifuge, equipped with a GSA rotor head (4500 rpm for 35 min). The precipitate was discarded and the supernatant dialysed against 50 mM sodium acetate, pH 5.5. The dialysed solution was applied to a Q-Sepharose (2.6×4 cm) column in 50 mM sodium acetate, pH 5.5 at a flow rate of 300 ml h−1. The column was washed (10×column volume) and proteins were eluted using a linear gradient of 0-0.35 M NaCl in 50 mM sodium acetate, pH 5.5 at a flow rate of 300 ml h−1. Fractions containing activity were pooled, concentrated on an Amicon cell (10 kDa cutoff) to 2.5 ml and applied to Superdex 200 H/R (1.6×60 cm) in 0.2 mM sodium acetate, pH 5.5 by draining into the bed. Proteins were eluted isocratically at a flow rate of 30 ml h−1. The purified enzyme showed a specific activity of 86 LLU/mg.

[0137] SDS-PAGE analysis showed three protein bands at around 40, 80, and 120 kDa. N-terminal sequencing of the first 23 amino acids revealed that the protein bands at 40 and 120 kDa had identical sequences (shown at the N-terminal of SEQ ID NO: 4), whereas the protein band at 80 kDa was shown to have the sequence shown as SEQ ID NO: 19. IEF analysis showed that LLPL-2 had a pl of around 4.2.

[0138] Enzymatic Characterisation of LLPL-2

[0139] LLPL-2 was show to have a bell-shaped pH-activity profile with optimal activity at pH 4.0. The temperature optimum was found at 50° C. The enzyme activity was completely stable at pH 4.5 after up to 120 hours incubation at pH 4.5 and 50 ° C. LLPL-2 is furthermore completely stable at 50° C., whereas a half-life of 84 hours was determined at 60 ° C. LLPL-2 was not found to be dependent upon addition of mineral salts like sodium or calcium.

Example 5

[0140] Identification and Sequencing of LLPL-1 and LLPL-2 Genes from A. oryzae

[0141] Cultivation of A. oryzae

[0142] Aspergillus oryzae strain IFO 4177 was grown in two 20-liter lab fermentors on a 10-liter scale at 34° C. using yeast extract and dextrose in the batch medium, and maltose syrup, urea, yeast extract, and trace metals in the feed. Fungal mycelia from the first lab fermentor were harvested by filtering through a cellulose filter (pore size 7-11 microns) after 27 hours, 68.5 hours, 118 hours, and 139 hours of growth. The growth conditions for the second fermentor were identical to the first one, except for a slower growth rate during the first 20 hours of fermentation. Fungal mycelia from the second lab fermentor were harvested as above after 68.3 hours of growth. The harvested mycelia were immediately frozen in liquid N2 and stored at −80° C.

[0143] The Aspergillus oryzae strain IFO 4177 was also grown in four 20-liter lab fermentors on a 10-liter scale at 34° C. using sucrose in the batch medium, and maltose syrup, ammonia, and yeast extract in the feed. The first of the four fermentations was carried out at pH 4.0. The second of the four fermentations was carried out at pH 7.0 with a constant low agitation rate (550 rpm) to achieve the rapid development of reductive metabolism. The third of the four fermentations was carried out at pH 7.0 under phosphate limited growth by lowering the amount of phosphate and yeast extract added to the batch medium. The fourth of the four fermentations was carried out at pH 7.0 and 39° C. After 75 hours of fermentation the temperature was lowered to 34° C. At 98 hours of fermentation the addition of carbon feed was stopped and the culture was allowed to starve for the last 30 hours of the fermentation. Fungal mycelial samples from the four lab fermentors above were then collected as described above, immediately frozen in liquid N2, and stored at −80° C.

[0144] Aspergillus oryzae strain IFO 4177 was also grown on Whatman filters placed on Cove-N agar plates for two days. The mycelia were collected, immediately frozen in liquid N2, and stored at −80° C.

[0145] Aspergillus oryzae strain IFO 4177 was also grown at 30° C. in 150 ml shake flasks containing RS-2 medium (Kofod et al., 1994, Journal of Biological Chemistry 269: 29182-29189) or a defined minimal medium. Fungal mycelia were collected after 5 days of growth in the RS-2 medium and 3 and 4 days of growth in the defined minimal medium, immediately frozen in liquid N2, and stored at −80° C.

[0146] Construction of Directional cDNA Libraries from Aspergillus oryzae

[0147] Total RNA was prepared by extraction with guanidinium thiocyanate followed by ultracentrifugation through a 5.7 M CsCl cushion (Chirgwin et al., 1979, Biochemistry 18: 5294-5299) using the following modifications. The frozen mycelia were ground in liquid N2 to a fine powder with a mortar and a pestle, followed by grinding in a precooled coffee mill, and immediately suspended in 5 volumes of RNA extraction buffer (4 M guanidinium thiocyanate, 0.5% sodium laurylsarcosine, 25 mM sodium citrate pH 7.0, 0.1 M β-mercaptoethanol). The mixture was stirred for 30 minutes at room temperature and centrifuged (20 minutes at 10 000 rpm, Beckman) to pellet the cell debris. The supernatant was collected, carefully layered onto a 5.7 M CsCl cushion (5.7 M CsCl, 10 mM EDTA, pH 7.5, 0.1% DEPC; autoclaved prior to use) using 26.5 ml supernatant per 12.0 ml of CsCl cushion, and centrifuged to obtain the total RNA (Beckman, SW 28 rotor, 25 000 rpm, room temperature, 24 hours). After centrifugation the supernatant was carefully removed and the bottom of the tube containing the RNA pellet was cut off and rinsed with 70% ethanol. The total RNA pellet was transferred to an Eppendorf tube, suspended in 500 ml of TE, pH 7.6 (if difficult, heat occasionally for 5 minutes at 65° C.), phenol extracted, and precipitated with ethanol for 12 hours at −20° C. (2.5 volumes of ethanol, 0.1 volume of 3M sodium acetate pH 5.2). The RNA was collected by centrifugation, washed in 70% ethanol, and resuspended in a minimum volume of DEPC. The RNA concentration was determined by measuring OD260/280.

[0148] The poly(A)+ RNA was isolated by oligo(dT)-cellulose affinity chromatography (Aviv & Leder, 1972, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 69: 1408-1412). A total of 0.2 g of oligo(dT) cellulose (Boehringer Mannheim, Indianapolis, Ind.) was preswollen in 10 ml of 1× of column loading buffer (20 mM Tris-Cl, pH 7.6, 0.5 M NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 0.1% SDS), loaded onto a DEPC-treated, plugged plastic column (Poly Prep Chromatography Column, BioRad, Hercules, Calif.), and equilibrated with 20 ml of 1× loading buffer. The total RNA (1-2 mg) was heated at 65° C. for 8 minutes, quenched on ice for 5 minutes, and after addition of 1 volume of 2× column loading buffer to the RNA sample loaded onto the column. The eluate was collected and reloaded 2-3 times by heating the sample as above and quenching on ice prior to each loading. The oligo(dT) column was washed with 10 volumes of 1× loading buffer, then with 3 volumes of medium salt buffer (20 mM Tris-Cl, pH 7.6, 0.1 M NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 0.1% SDS), followed by elution of the poly(A)+ RNA with 3 volumes of elution buffer (10 mM Tris-Cl, pH 7.6, 1 mM EDTA, 0.05% SDS) preheated to 65° C., by collecting 500 μl fractions. The OD260 was read for each collected fraction, and the mRNA containing fractions were pooled and ethanol precipitated at −20° C. for 12 hours. The poly(A)+ RNA was collected by centrifugation, resuspended in DEPC-DIW and stored in 5-10 mg aliquots at −80° C.

[0149] Double-stranded cDNA was synthesized from 5 μg of Aspergillus oryzae IFO 4177 poly(A)+ RNA by the RNase H method (Gubler and Hoffman 1983, supra; Sambrook et al., 1989, supra) using a hair-pin modification. The poly(A)+ RNA (5 μg in 5 μl of DEPC-treated water) was heated at 70° C. for 8 minutes in a pre-siliconized, RNase-free Eppendorf tube, quenched on ice, and combined in a final volume of 50 il with reverse transcriptase buffer (50 mM Tris-Cl pH 8.3, 75 mM KCl, 3 mM MgCl2, 10 mM DTT) containing 1 mM of dATP, dGTP and dTTP, and 0.5 mM of 5-methyl-dCTP, 40 units of human placental ribonuclease inhibitor, 4.81 μg of oligo(dT)18-Notl primer and 1000 units of SuperScript II RNase H—reverse transcriptase.

[0150] First-strand CDNA was synthesized by incubating the reaction mixture at 45° C. for 1 hour. After synthesis, the mRNA:cDNA hybrid mixture was gel filtrated through a Pharmacia MicroSpin S-400 HR spin column according to the manufacturer's instructions.

[0151] After the gel filtration, the hybrids were diluted in 250 μl of second strand buffer (20 mM Tris-Cl pH 7.4, 90 mM KCl, 4.6 mM MgCl2, 10 mM (NH4)2SO4, 0.16 mM βAND+) containing 200 iM of each dNTP, 60 units of E. coli DNA polymerase I (Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden), 5.25 units of RNase H, and 15 units of E. coli DNA ligase. Second strand cDNA synthesis was performed by incubating the reaction tube at 16° C. for 2 hours, and an additional 15 minutes at 25° C. The reaction was stopped by addition of EDTA to 20 mM final concentration followed by phenol and chloroform extractions.

[0152] The double-stranded cDNA was ethanol precipitated at −20° C. for 12 hours by addition of 2 volumes of 96% ethanol and 0.2 volume of 10 M ammonium acetate, recovered by centrifugation, washed in 70% ethanol, dried (SpeedVac), and resuspended in 30 ml of Mung bean nuclease buffer (30 mM sodium acetate pH 4.6, 300 mM NaCl, 1 mM ZnSO4, 0.35 mM dithiothreitol, 2% glycerol) containing 25 units of Mung bean nuclease. The single-stranded hair-pin DNA was clipped by incubating the reaction at 30° C. for 30 minutes, followed by addition of 70 ml of 10 mM Tris-Cl, pH 7.5, 1 mM EDTA, phenol extraction, and ethanol precipitation with 2 volumes of 96% ethanol and 0.1 volume 3 M sodium acetate pH 5.2 on ice for 30 minutes.

[0153] The double-stranded cDNAs were recovered by centrifugation (20,000 rpm, 30 minutes), and blunt-ended with T4 DNA polymerase in 30 μl of T4 DNA polymerase buffer (20 mM Tris-acetate, pH 7.9, 10 mM magnesium acetate, 50 mM potassium acetate, 1 mM dithiothreitol) containing 0.5 mM of each dNTP, and 5 units of T4 DNA polymerase by incubating the reaction mixture at +16° C. for 1 hour. The reaction was stopped by addition of EDTA to 20 mM final concentration, followed by phenol and chloroform extractions and ethanol precipitation for 12 h at −20° C. by adding 2 volumes of 96% ethanol and 0.1 volume of 3M sodium acetate pH 5.2.

[0154] After the fill-in reaction the cDNAs were recovered by centrifugation as above, washed in 70% ethanol, and the DNA pellet was dried in a SpeedVac. The cDNA pellet was resuspended in 25 μl of ligation buffer (30 mM Tris-Cl, pH 7.8, 10 mM MgCl2, 10 mM dithiothreitol, 0.5 mM ATP) containing 2 μg EcoRI adaptors (0.2, μg/μl, Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden) and 20 units of T4 ligase by incubating the reaction mix at 16° C. for 12 hours. The reaction was stopped by heating at 65° C. for 20 minutes, and then placed on ice for 5 minutes. The adapted cDNA was digested with Notl by addition of 20 μl autoclaved water, 5 μl of 10× Notl restriction enzyme buffer and 50 units of Notl, followed by incubation for 3 hours at 37° C. The reaction was stopped by heating the sample at 65° C. for 15 minutes. The cDNAs were size-fractionated by agarose gel electrophoresis on a 0.8% SeaPlaque GTG low melting temperature agarose gel (FMC, Rockland, Me.) in 1×TBE (in autoclaved water) to separate unligated adaptors and small cDNAs. The gel was run for 12 hours at 15 V, and the cDNA was size-selected with a cut-off at 0.7 kb by cutting out the lower part of the agarose gel. Then a 1.5% agarose gel was poured in front of the cDNA-containing gel, and the double-stranded cDNAs were concentrated by running the gel backwards until it appeared as a compressed band on the gel. The cDNA-containing gel piece was cut out from the gel and the cDNA was extracted from the gel using the GFX gel band purification kit (Amersham, Arlington Heights, Ill.) as follows. The trimmed gel slice was weighed in a 2 ml Biopure Eppendorf tube, then 10 ml of Capture Buffer was added for each 10 mg of gel slice, the gel slice was dissolved by incubation at 60° C. for 10 minutes, until the agarose was completely solubilized, the sample at the bottom of the tube by brief centrifugation. The melted sample was transferred to the GFX spin column placed in a collection tube, incubated at 25° C. for 1 minite, and then spun at full speed in a microcentrifuge for 30 seconds. The flow-through was discarded, and the column was washed with 500 μl of wash buffer, followed by centrifugation at full speed for 30 seconds. The collection tube was discarded, and the column was placed in a 1.5 ml Eppendorf tube, followed by elution of the cDNA by addition of 50 μl of TE pH 7.5 to the center of the column, incubation at 25° C. for 1 minute, and finally by centrifugation for 1 minute at maximum speed. The eluted cDNA was stored at −20° C. until library construction.

[0155] A plasmid DNA preparation for a EcoRI-Notl insert-containing pYES2.0 cDNA clone, was purified using a QIAGEN Tip-100 according to the manufacturer's instructions (QIAGEN, Valencia, Calif. A total of 10 mg of purified plasmid DNA was digested to completion with Notl and EcoRI in a total volume of 60 il by addition of 6 ml of 10×NE-Buffer for EcoRI (New England Biolabs, Beverly, Mass.), 40 units of Notl, and 20 units of EcoRI followed by incubation for 6 hours at 37° C. The reaction was stopped by heating the sample at 65° C. for 20 minutes. The digested plasmid DNA was extracted once with phenol-chloroform, then with chloroform, followed by ethanol precipitation for 12 hours at −20° C. by adding 2 volumes of 96% ethanol and 0.1 volume of 3 M sodium acetate pH 5.2. The precipitated DNA was resuspended in 25 ml of 1×TE pH 7.5, loaded on a 0.8% SeaKem agarose gel in 1×TBE, and run on the gel for 3 hours at 60 V. The digested vector was cut out from the gel, and the DNA was extracted from the gel using the GFX gel band purification kit (Amersham-Pharmacia Biotech, Uppsala, Sweden) according to the manufacturer's instructions. After measuring the DNA concentration by OD260/280, the eluted vector was stored at −20° C. until library construction.

[0156] To establish the optimal ligation conditions for the cDNA library, four test ligations were carried out in 10 il of ligation buffer (30 mM Tris-Cl pH 7.8, 10 mM MgCl2, 10 mM DTT, 0.5 mM ATP) containing 7 μl of double-stranded cDNA, (corresponding to approximately {fraction (1/10)} of the total volume in the cDNA sample), 2 units of T4 ligase, and 25 ng, 50 ng and 75 ng of EcoRI-Notl cleaved pYES2.0 vector, respectively (Invitrogen). The vector background control ligation reaction contained 75 ng of EcoRI-NotI cleaved pYES.0 vector without cDNA. The ligation reactions were performed by incubation at 16° C. for 12 hours, heated at 65° C. for 20 minutes, and then 10 μl of autoclaved water was added to each tube. One il of the ligation mixtures was electroporated (200 W, 2.5 kV, 25 mF) to 40 μl electrocompetent E. coli DH10B cells (Life Technologies, Gaithersburg, Md.). After addition of 1 ml SOC. to each transformation mix, the cells were grown at 37° C. for 1 hour, 50 μl and 5 μl from each electroporation were plated on LB plates supplemented with ampicillin at 100 μg per ml and grown at 37° C. for 12 hours. Using the optimal conditions, 18 Aspergillus oryzae IFO 4177 cDNA libraries containing 1-2.5×107 independent colony forming units was established in E. coli, with a vector background of ca. 1%. The cDNA library was stored as (1) individual pools (25,000 c.f.u./pool) in 20% glycerol at −80° C.; (2) cell pellets of the same pools at −20° C.; (3) Qiagen purified plasmid DNA from individual pools at −20° C. (Qiagen Tip 100); and (4) directional, double-stranded cDNA at −20° C.

[0157] Aspergillus oryzae EST (Expressed Sequence Tag) Template Preparation

[0158] From each cDNA library described, transformant colonies were picked directly from the transformation plates into 96-well microtiter dishes (QIAGEN, GmbH, Hilden Germany) which contained 200 μl TB broth (Life Technologies, Frederick Md.) with 100 μg ampicillin per ml. The plates were incubated 24 hours with agitation (300 rpm) on a rotary shaker. To prevent spilling and cross-contamination, and to allow sufficient aeration, the plates were covered with a microporous tape sheet AirPore™ (QIAGEN GmbH, Hilden Germany). DNA was isolated from each well using the QIAprep 96 Turbo kit (QIAGEN GmbH, Hilden Germany).

[0159] EST Sequencing and Analysis of Nucleotide Sequence Data of the Aspergillus oryzae EST Library

[0160] Single-pass DNA sequencing of the Aspergillus oryzae ESTs was done with a Perkin-Elmer Applied Biosystems Model 377 XL Automatic DNA Sequencer (Perkin-Elmer Applied Biosystems, Inc., Foster City, Calif.) using dye-terminator chemistry (Giesecke et al., 1992, Journal of Virology Methods 38: 47-60) and a pYES specific primer (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif.). Vector sequence and low quality 3′ sequence were removed with the pregap program from the Staden package (MRC, Cambridge, England). The sequences were assembled with TIGR Assembler software (Sutton et al., 1995, supra). The assembled sequences were searched with fast×3 (see Pearson and Lipman, 1988, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 85: 2444-2448; Pearson, 1990, Methods in Enzymology 183: 63-98) against a customized database consisting of protein sequences from SWISSPROT, SWISSPROTNEW, TREMBL, TREMBLNEW, REMTREMBL, PDB and GeneSeqP. The matrix used was BL50.

[0161] Nucleotide Sequence Analysis

[0162] The nucleotide sequence of the lysophospholipase cDNA clones pEST204, and pEST1648 were determined from both strands by the dideoxy chain-termination method (Sanger, F., Nicklen, S., and Coulson, A. R. (1977) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 5463-5467) using 500 ng of Qiagen-purified template (Qiagen, USA), the Taq deoxyterminal cycle sequencing kit (Perkin-Elmer, USA), fluorescent labeled terminators and 5 pmol of either pYES 2.0 polylinker primers (Invitrogen, USA) or synthetic oligonucleotide primers. Analysis of the sequence data was performed according to Devereux et al., 1984 (Devereux, J., Haeberli, P., and Smithies, O. (1984) Nucleic Acids Res. 12, 387-395).

Example 6

[0163] Expression of LLPL-2 in Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus niger

[0164] Transformation in Asperqillus strain

[0165] Aspergillus oryzae strain BECh-2 and an Aspergillus niger strain were each inoculated to 100 ml of YPG medium and incubated for 16 hrs at 32° C. at 120 rpm. Pellets were collected and washed with 0.6 M KCl, and resuspended 20 ml 0.6 M KCl containing Glucanex at the concentration of 30 μl/ml. Cultures were incubated at 32° C. at 60 rpm until protoplasts formed, then washed with STC buffer twice. The protoplasts were counted with a hematometer and resuspended in an 8:2:0.1 solution of STC:STPC:DMSO to a final concentration of 2.5×10e7 protoplasts/ml. About 3 μg of DNA was added to 100 μl of protoplasts solution, mixed gently and incubated on ice for 30 min. One ml of SPTC. was added and incubated 30 min at 37° C. After the addition of 10 ml of 50° C. Cove top agarose, the reaction was poured onto Cove agar plate. Transformation plates were incubated at 32° C. for 5 days.

[0166] Expression of LLPL-2 Gene in Aspergillus niger.

[0167] The coding region of the LLPL-2 gene was amplified from genomic DNA of an Aspergillus niger strain by PCR with the primers HU225 (SEQ ID NO: 15) and HU226 (SEQ ID NO: 16) which included a BgIII and a Pmel restriction enzyme site, respectively.

[0168] Reaction components (1 ng/μl of genomic DNA, 250 mM dNTP each, primer 250 nM each, 0.1 U/μl in Taq polymerase in 1× buffer (Roche Diagnostics, Japan)) were mixed and submitted for PCR under the following conditions.

Step	Temperature	time
1	94° C.	2 min
2	92° C.	1 min
3	55° C.	1 min
4	72° C.	2 min
5	72° C.	10 min
6	4° C.	forever
Step 2 to 4 were repeated 30 times.

[0169] The 2 kb fragment was gel-purified with QIA gel extraction kit and ligated into a pT7Blue vector with Ligation high. The ligation mixture was transformed into E. coli JM109. The resultant plasmid (pLLPL2) was sequenced, and it was confirmed that no changes had happened in the LLPL-2 sequences.

[0170] The pLLPL2 was digested with BgIII and Pmel and ligated into the BamHI and Nru sites in the Aspergillus expression cassette pCaHj483 which has Aspergillus niger neutral amylase promoter, Aspergillus nidulans TPI leader sequences, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase terminator and Aspergillus nidulans amdS gene as a marker. The resultant plasmid was named pHUda123.

[0171] The LLPL-2 expression plasmid, pHUda123, was transformed into an Aspergillus niger strain. Selected transformants were inoculated in 100 ml of MLC. media and cultivated at 30° C. for 2 days. 5 ml of grown cell in MLC. medium was inoculated to 100 ml of MU-1 medium and cultivated at 30° C. for 7 days.

[0172] Supernatant was obtained by centrifugation, and the lysophospholipase activity was measured as described above. The table below shows the lysophospholipase activity from of the selected transformants, relative to the activity of the host strain, MBin14 which was normalized to 1.0.

        Yield (supernatant)
Strain  Relative activity
MBin114 1.0
123N-33 63
123N-38 150
123N-46 157
123N-48 101

[0173] The above results clearly demonstrate the presence of increased lysophospholipase activity in supernatants.

[0174] Expression and Secretion of C-terminal Deleted LLPL-2 Gene in Aspergillus oryzae

[0175] LLPL-2 with the C-terminal deleted (LLPL-2-CD) was made from genomic DNA of a strain of A. niger by PCR with the primers HU219 (SEQ ID NO: 17) and HU244 (SEQ ID NO: 18), which included an Eagl and a Pmel restriction enzyme site, respectively

[0176] Reaction components (1 ng/ml of genomic DNA, 250 mM dNTP each, primer 250 nM each, 0.1 U/ml in Taq polymerase in 1× buffer (Roche Diagnostics, Japan)) were mixed and submitted for PCR under the following conditions.

Step	Temperature	time
1	94° C.	2 min
2	92° C.	1 min
3	55° C.	1 min
4	72° C.	1.5 min
5	72° C.	10 min
6	4° C.	forever
Step 2 to 4 were repeated 30 times.

[0177] The 1.3 kb fragment was digested with Eagl and Pmel and ligated into the Eagl and Pmel sites in the pLLPL-2 having LLPL-2 gene with Ligation high.(TOYOBO). The ligation mixture was transformed into E. coli JM109. The resultant plasmid (pHUda126) was sequenced to confirm that nucleotides 115-1824 of SEQ ID NO: 3 were intact and that nucleotides 1825-1914 of SEQ ID NO: 3 had been deleted, corresponding to a C-terminal deletion of amino acids S571-L600 of LLPL-2 (SEQ ID NO: 4)..

[0178] The 2.0 kb fragment encoding LLPL-2-CD was obtained by digesting pHUda126 with BgIII and Smal. The 2.0 kb fragment was gel-purified with the QIA gel extraction kit and ligated into the BamHI and Nrul sites in the Aspergillus expression cassette pCaHj483 with Ligation high. The ligation mixture was transformed into E. coli JM109.

[0179] The resultant plasmid (pHUda128) for LLPL-2-CD expression cassette was constructed and transformed into the A. oryzae strain, BECh-2. Selected transformants were inoculated in 100 ml of MS-9 media and cultivated at 30° C. for 1 day. 3 ml of grown cell in MS-9 medium was inoculated to 100 ml of MDU-pH5 medium and cultivated cultivated at 30° C. for 3 days.

[0180] Supernatant was obtained by centrifugation, and the lysophospholipase activity was measured as described above. The table below shows the lysophospholipase activity from of the selected transformants, relative to the activity of the host strain, BECh-2 which was normalized to 1.0.

       Yield (supernatant)
Strain Relative activity
BECh-2 1.0
128-3  9
128-9  7
128-12 33
128-15 11

[0181] The above results clearly demonstrate the presence of increased lysophospholipase activity in supernatants.

Example 7

[0182] Use of A. niger LLPL-2 in Filtration

[0183] Filtration performance was determined at 60° C. and pH 4.5 using partially hydrolyzed wheat starch, as follows: The wheat starch hydrolyzate (25 ml in a 100 ml flask) was mixed with LLPL-2 from Example 4 at a dosage of 0.4 L/t dry matter and incubated 6 hours at 60° C. under magnetic stirring. A control was made without enzyme addition. After 6 hours incubation the hydrolyzate was decanted into a glass and left to settle for 10 min at room temperature. The tendency of the sample to flocculate was determined by visual inspection and ranged as excellent, good, fair, bad, or none. The filtration flux was subsequently determined by running the sample through a filter (Whatman no. 4) and measuring the amount of filtrate after 2, 5, and 10 min. The clarity of the filtered sample was measured spectrophotometrically at 720 nm. The flux of filtrate (ml) was as follows:

Time	Control	LLPL-2
2 min.	4	8
5 min.	8	13
10 min.	12	16

[0184] These results indicate that LLPL-2 showed a clear effect on the filtration flux compared to a control sample. Furthermore a clear filtrate was obtained by treatment with LLPL-2.

Claims

1. A lysophospholipase which is: a) a polypeptide encoded by a lysophospholipase encoding part of the DNA sequence cloned into a plasmid present in Escherichia coli deposit number DSM 13003, DSM 13004, DSM 13082 or DSM 13083, or b) a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence as the mature peptide shown in SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6 or 8, or which can be derived therefrom by substitution, deletion, and/or insertion of one or more amino acids, particularly by deletion of 25-35 amino acids at the C-terminal; c) an analogue of the polypeptide defined in (a) or (b) which: i) has at least 70% homology with said polypeptide, ii) is immunologically reactive with an antibody raised against said polypeptide in purified form, or iii) is an allelic variant of said polypeptide; or d) a polypeptide which is encoded by a nucleic acid sequence which hybridizes under high stringency conditions with a complementary strand of the nucleic acid sequence shown as nucleotides 109-1920 of SEQ ID NO: 1, 115-1914 of SEQ ID NO: 3, 70-1881 of SEQ ID NO: 5 or 193-2001 of SEQ ID NO: 7, or a subsequence thereof having at least 100 nucleotides.

2. The lysophospholipase of claim 1 which is native to a strain of Aspergillus, preferably A. niger or A. oryzae.

3. A nucleic acid sequence comprising a nucleic acid sequence which encodes the lysophospholipase of claim 1.

4. A nucleic acid sequence which comprises: a) the lysophospholipase encoding part of the DNA sequence cloned into a plasmid present in Escherichia coli DSM 13003, DSM 13004, DSM 13082 or DSM 13083, b) the nucleic acid sequence shown as nucleotides 109-1920 of SEQ ID NO: 1, 115-1914 of SEQ ID NO: 3, 70-1881 of SEQ ID NO: 5 or 193-2001 of SEQ ID NO: 7, c) an analogue of the sequence defined in a) or b) which encodes a lysophospholipase and i) has at least 70% homology with said DNA sequence, or ii) hybridizes at high stringency with a complementary strand of said DNA sequence or a subsequence thereof having at least 100 nucleotides, iii) is an allelic variant thereof, or d) a complementary strand of a), b) or c).

5. A nucleic acid construct comprising the nucleic acid sequence of claim 3 operably linked to one or more control sequences capable of directing the expression of the lysophospholipase in a suitable expression host.

6. A recombinant expression vector comprising the nucleic acid construct of claim 5, a promoter, and transcriptional and translational stop signals.

7. A recombinant host cell transformed with the nucleic acid construct of claim 6.

8. A method for producing a lysophospholipase comprising cultivating the host cell of claim 7 under conditions conducive to production of the lysophospholipase, and recovering the lysophospholipase.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the lysophospholipase can be derived from the mature peptide of SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6 or 8 or is an analogue thereof, and the host cell is a transformed strain of A. oryzae.

10. A process for hydrolyzing fatty acyl groups in a phospholipid or lysophospholipid, comprising treating the phospholipid or lysophospholipid with the lysophospholipase of claim 1.

11. A process for improving the filterability of an aqueous solution or slurry of carbohydrate origin which contains phospholipid, which process comprises treating the solution or slurry with the lysophospholipase of claim 1.

12. The process of claim 11 wherein the solution or slurry contains a starch hydrolysate, particularly a wheat starch hydrolysate.